Sunday, July 31, 2016

Yesterday, Alex spent most of the evening relaxing on our
back screened porch, lying in the hammock we had given Ed for Father’s Day.
After a busy week filled with activity and a bit of anxiety, he probably just needed to unwind.

On Monday, we took him for his annual eye examination and
were pleased by how well he cooperated. His optometrist does a great job of
working with him to assess his vision, and the combination of reciting numbers
and letters on the eye charts holds Alex’s interest, of course. When the first
chart was put up on the wall, the assistant asked Alex if he could read any of
the letters, and he said no. Thinking that he was looking in the wrong place, I
pointed to the chart and questioned him myself. Again, and seemingly a little
hurt that I didn’t believe his first response, he insisted that he couldn’t see
any of the letters. The assistant then switched to the next larger size of
letters, and Alex could easily read them aloud. He was telling the truth; his
eyesight had simply gotten a little worse over the past year. With a new lens prescription,
we picked out new frames nearly identical to the ones he’s been wearing for two
years, and we were told the new glasses would arrive in about ten business
days.

As a reward for being so pleasant at the eye doctor, we took
him to our county fair that evening, which he really enjoyed. Watching him
maneuver through crowds and handle all the sights, smells, sounds, and general
confusion, we were pleased with how calm and content he remained the entire
time we were there. In fact, observing the rather rude behavior of many other
fair goers makes me think that they could also benefit from the lessons Alex
has learned in behavioral therapy about using good manners and respecting
personal space.

On Tuesday, Alex visited the dentist for the second time in
a week because the regular six-month checkup last week revealed a cavity that
needed filling. Because the sensation of numbness is a little overwhelming for
him, we had practiced at home beforehand using the numbing cream and cotton
swabs our dentist had given us last year and suggested we use prior to having a
filling. Thanks to the expertise and kindness of our dentist and his assistant,
Alex handled the drilling and filling amazingly well. In fact, he smiled right
before the dentist began drilling and afterward told us that he liked going to
the dentist “one hundred percent.” Of course, we are truly thankful to have
understanding doctors who reassure Alex to gain his complete trust so that they
can give him proper care.

On Wednesday, Alex’s peer companion came to spend the
afternoon with him, and they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. As she kept
him entertained, I tackled organizing his room. Filling a large trash bag with
things he no longer needs, I realized how far he has come because I didn’t
worry that he would have a meltdown if and when he discovers I’ve thrown away
his random lists and odd souvenirs so that he can find his prized possessions
without being distracted by clutter. That evening we took him shopping at
various stores and were impressed by how well he now navigates through aisles
(again better than most typical people), staying out of other people's way, and
never bothering anything, just stooping or craning his neck to look at items
that intrigue him.

On Thursday, Alex rolled with changes nicely when his music
therapist suddenly had to cancel their session that afternoon because he was
having car trouble. This was on top of his altered schedule of missing
behavioral and recreational therapies last week because his behavioral therapist
was on vacation. Nonetheless, Alex understood the situation and handled it
well. That evening, we took him to a concert in our downtown park, something
he’d been looking forward to all summer, seeing one of his favorite bands, the
Spazmatics. Despite the crowds and loud music, Alex thoroughly enjoyed the 80’s
music, swaying to the beat and even singing along to songs he knows.

On Friday, we were just heading out the door to go out to
one of Alex’s favorite restaurants, Round the Clock in Chesterton, when our
electricity suddenly went out, probably due to intense rain storms. Because we
couldn’t shut our electric-powered garage door and we needed to keep an eye on
our sump pump to make sure rain water didn’t seep into our basement, we decided
to stay home until the power came back on. Between the disappointment of not going
out to dinner and the unusual situation of being without electricity, Alex was
a bit unnerved. However, he coped pretty well, trying to manage his anxiety by
discussing his fears and frustrations.

When he told me he was bored because the Internet, cable,
and power outage meant that he couldn’t use his iPad or watch television, I
reminded him that he could read instead. As he fretted about whether he could
still take a bath, I assured him that we could set up our crank-powered lantern
to provide light in our windowless dark bathroom. At one point he went to use
the bathroom and yelled, “It’s too dark in here!” Before I could jump up and
get him a flashlight, I discovered that he had already gotten a flashlight
himself. As he revealed various concerns through questions (“Will the power be
off for a week?” “What if the electricity is off until midnight?’), I was able
to reassure him and ease his anxiety by telling him this was only temporary and
that we would be all right. A few years ago, a situation like this would have
sent him into a meltdown, but he handled his fears admirably, using the coping
skills he has learned in behavioral therapy.

After the power returned a couple of hours later, he seemed
relieved to have things back to normal, insisting that we fix all the clocks to
the correct time right away. Fortunately, he knows how to reset our trickiest
clocks, leaving the easier ones for me. When he overheard Ed getting frustrated
about a clock that is extremely difficult to reset, Alex showed good problem-solving skills, suggesting, “Just wait until midnight, unplug it, and plug it
back in.” Not only has he learned ways to cope with frustrating situations, but
he has also developed methods he can share with other people who are
frustrated. Now that is real progress, and we are delighted with how well he currently copes in a variety of situations. We know that God is helping Alex overcome
the obstacles of autism, especially his anxiety, and we are truly grateful for
consolation that makes his life, and therefore ours, easier and better.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

The recent tragic killings of police officers in Dallas and
Baton Rouge have understandably put communities on edge, fearing for the lives
of innocent citizens and those officers who willingly serve and protect them. Last
week, a policeman in Miami, Florida, shot and wounded an unarmed man, Charles
Kinsey. While some media reports are touting this incident as an example of
excessive force by the police and/or racial tension because Mr. Kinsey, a black
man, fully cooperated with the police orders, further details reveal another
cause of this unfortunate incident: autism.

According to news reports [To read the NBC News report about
this incident, please click here.], Charles Kinsey works as a behavioral
therapist for a group home in Miami. When a young man with autism wandered from
the group home, Mr. Kinsey went searching for him and found him holding a toy
truck. Apparently, someone called the police, and confusion about the situation––specifically,
the 911 caller indicated that someone had a gun––led the police to view the man
with autism as a threat, putting them on high alert.

In the video filmed by a witness to the event, Mr. Kinsey
can be seen lying on the ground with his hands in the air, fully cooperating
with the police. In addition, he keeps explaining to the police that the other
man sitting next to him is not armed and only has a toy truck in his hands. Moreover, he keeps trying to get the man with autism to cooperate with the
police, repeatedly telling him to lie on his stomach, but the young man keeps
screaming at him, “Shut up!” Mr. Kinsey also identifies himself as “a behavior
tech at the group home” to the police as he tries to calm and protect his
client, who is clearly agitated.

Responding to this incident, the National Autism Association
issued a statement praising Mr. Kinsey for his valiant attempts to help the
young man with autism. In addition, this statement [which can be viewed online
here] explains some of the behaviors the young man displays that are common in
autism. Specifically, they note elopement, wandering away from the group home;
echolalia, verbally repeating something over and over; and stimming, engaging
in calming behavior, such as rocking back and forth. They also note the
inability to respond to verbal commands. All of these common behaviors in
autism would come across as belligerence or defiance or perhaps mental illness
to someone who is not aware of how people with autism might behave, especially
in a crisis.

After assessing the situation, the officer intended to shoot
the man with autism, thinking that he was a threat to Mr. Kinsey, but
accidentally shot the caregiver instead. According to the president of the
police association in Dade County, “In fearing for Mr. Kinsey’s life, the
officer discharged his firearm trying to save Mr. Kinsey’s life, and he
missed.” As an autism parent, what bothers me even more than the shooting of an
innocent man who was trying desperately to help his client with autism is that
the police were actually trying to shoot a young man with autism, viewing him
as a credible danger.

The officer who wounded Mr. Kinsey explained his intentions:
“I took this job to save lives and help people. I did what I had to do in a
split second to accomplish that and hate to hear others paint me as something
that I’m not.” I truly believe that the officer was attempting to protect Mr.
Kinsey and any others whom he believed were endangered by the man with autism.
However, as a parent of a young man with autism, I worry about how my son might
act in a crisis and how his life might be in danger if his stereotypical autism
behaviors were misinterpreted.

As the National Autism Association points out in their
response to this incident, more training of police officers is needed to help
them respond to and interact with people who have autism. With the increasing
rates of autism, police officers are more likely to encounter adults with
autism, especially those who have wandering tendencies. If police officers do
not recognize typical autistic behaviors, they may misconstrue these actions
as disobedience or threats. Consequently, the National Autism Association
offers free resources [Please click here for these resources.] for first responders
to create greater awareness and to help them protect people with autism.

While the shooting in Miami this past week was quite
unfortunate, the outcome could have been even worse, had the shots met their
intended target, an upset young man with autism. As parents raising adults with
autism, we must emphasize to our children the need to cooperate with
authorities, especially in a crisis situation. Moreover, we must help those
first responders who may encounter our adult children recognize their unusual
behaviors as coping mechanisms and not intentional threats to others. After
all, we won’t always be around to protect our adult children with autism, and
we will need those who have devoted their lives to helping others to protect
our children when we cannot. In the meantime, we pray that God will watch over
our children and provide divine protection to keep them safe from harm.

“For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you
go.” Psalm 91:11

Sunday, July 17, 2016

A few weeks ago, we took Alex to a concert in our downtown
park, where he enjoyed the upbeat popular music the band played. Even though
Alex has sound sensitivity, he never seemed to be bothered by the volume of the
music, which was not uncomfortably loud. Near the end of the concert, when it
began to get dark, they turned on the stage lights that began to flash various
colors. Suddenly, Alex seemed a bit distressed temporarily and put his fingers
in his ears, as if he were overwhelmed by sound, even though the volume had not
changed. When we asked him if the music was too loud, he told us it wasn’t, and
after a few moments with his fingers in his ears, he relaxed and took his
fingers out of his ears, ready to enjoy the music again, assuring us that he
wanted to stay for the rest of the concert. Clearly, he had a sensory overload
and used coping skills to manage it successfully. However, why did he plug his
ears for a visual assault on his senses?

On the Fourth of July, we took him to see the local fireworks
display. A couple of years ago, we discovered a place where we could park and
watch the fireworks from our car that was away from the crowds and noise and
where we could leave quickly should Alex become overwhelmed by the sights and
sounds. However, Alex loves fireworks displays, and we have never had to leave
early because he deals with the bright lights and loud noises amazingly well.
At one point in the show, a firework display had a sequence of very bright
flashing lights yet made no sound as they shone, and Alex once again put his
fingers in his ears. Perhaps he was anticipating the loud boom he thought they
were ready to make, but I think there was another reason for plugging his ears.
Concerned that he was overwhelmed, we offered to leave, but he assured us that
he was all right and wanted to stay for the entire fireworks show. After a few
seconds of plugging his ears, he adapted and enjoyed the rest of the fireworks.

A couple of days ago, Alex and I were watching a new
television show called Greatest Hits in which singers and bands perform their
hit songs from the ‘80’s and early 90’s. Even though these songs are before his time
(as he always reminds us that he doesn’t remember them), he thoroughly enjoys
these old tunes. Because Alex’s hearing is acute, we usually keep our
television volume turned down fairly low so that it doesn’t bother him. Near
the end of the show as one of the bands was performing, suddenly the stage
lights came on and began flashing brightly. Knowing that the volume had not
changed, I watched him to see how he would react to the flashing lights, and he
put his fingers in his ears briefly. Of course, he could have left the room or
turned off the television, but he wanted to watch the show, so he used his
coping mechanism of putting his fingers in his ears for a few moments, knowing
this sound blocking mechanism allows him to continue.

Curious as to why Alex blocks sound when his senses are
assaulted visually, I began looking for some research. Most people would close
their eyes if flashing lights bother them, but blocking sound seems to help him
cope with the sensory overload. In my search, I found a recent online article in
Spectrum entitled “Sight may mix with sound in autism brains,” written by
Jessica Wright and published May 13, 2016. [To read this article, please click here.] This interesting article summarizes findings presented at the 2016
International Meeting for Autism Research in Baltimore and published in May in
the journal Autism Research.

Using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers tested
children and teenagers who were typical and those who have autism to see where
in the brain they processed visual and auditory stimuli. For visual tasks, the
children were shown pictures of rectangles and dots and were told to indicate
the position of the dot as high or low. For auditory tasks, they listened to
tones and were to indicate whether the pitch of the sound was high or low.
While both groups––those with autism and those with typical
development––performed well on correctly identifying the positions and tones,
the MRI indicated different processing in the brains of the children with
autism.

Specifically, both groups scored in the mid-90 percentage
range on identifying the position of the dot as low or high; however, the
typical group scored slightly better (93%) than those with autism (83%) on
identifying low and high tones. The researchers also noted that the MRI
indicated that the visual cortex of the typical children shut down when they
were engaged in the listening task. However, when listening to the sounds, the
visual cortex became more active in the brains of the children with autism.
This may account for the sensory overload children with autism often exhibit;
their brains are taking in both visual and auditory stimuli instead of shutting
out what they don’t need at the time.

These researchers suggests that children with autism may be
using visual areas of the brain to process sound, perhaps to compensate for
weaknesses in the brain areas that process sound. Typically, people with autism
have strong visual skills, allowing them to create pictures in their minds
easily. Alex often tells use that he can visualize words and numbers in his
mind, which makes mentally calculating complicated math problems easy for him. On the
other hand, there seems to be confusion for him between the visual and auditory
stimuli, as evidenced by his attempts to block sounds when flashing lights
overwhelm his visual field. Maybe he is experiencing a “sensory crossover”
described in this research, but instead of seeing sound, he is hearing sights.

If, indeed, his brain processes stimuli differently, he has
learned a coping skill to deal with overwhelming situations. Perhaps by
blocking the sound briefly, he is able to focus on the visual and then add the
sound when he is ready. As a primarily auditory learner, I know that I
sometimes have to close my eyes to focus upon what I’m hearing, to block out
the visual that distracts me so that I may concentrate on listening. Alex seems
to be doing a similar technique, yet because his brain may work differently, he
blocks sound instead of sight, which is his strongest modality for learning. Whatever
the reason, I’m pleased that he has developed a method to help him adjust when
he is dealing with a variety of sights and sounds so that his brain can handle
all there is to see and hear and so that he can enjoy all life has to offer.

“Ears to hear and eyes to see––both are gifts from the Lord.”
Proverbs 20:12

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Ever since he was a little boy. Alex has been a big fan of
television game shows, and he has continued his love for these programs over
the years. In fact, we make sure nothing interferes with his watching The Price
Is Right or Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune every day. We keep his schedule between
10:00-11:00 A.M.,3:30-4:00 P.M.,
and 6:30-7:00 P.M. free, so that he can watch his beloved game shows. In the
event something comes up during these sacred times, we must appease him by
promising to tape his shows on the DVR so that he can watch them later.

Apparently, Alex is not the only person who enjoys watching
television game shows, as evidenced by the revival of the old game shows Match
Game, The $10,000 Pyramid, To Tell the Truth, and FamilyFeud. These prime time
shows with new hosts and current celebrities have found new popularity with
audiences who enjoy watching the friendly competition. Of course, Alex is now
glued to Sunday night television, delighted to watch an evening of new game
shows.

In many ways, our daily life is a game show in which Alex is
the host and I am the “lucky” contestant chosen to answer unusual questions to
satisfy him. Fortunately, he has taught me the rules well so that I am usually
a successful participant. However, to the average observer, our games appear to
be a series of strange questions and answers, yet because Alex enjoys our
repartee, I am a willing partner in his inquiries. Here are just a few of the
games we play.

Name That Crumb­­––Alex brings me a morsel of food he has
found from who knows where (the floor, the table, his teeth?) and asks me to
identify what it is. Sometimes the answer is obvious, and I can confidently
tell him the answer. Other times, I have no clue because the crumb has been
chewed or become petrified, or it is so small I would need a microscope to
properly identify it. Nonetheless, to satisfy my inquiring host, I confidently
tell him what it is, convincing him that I do know what “treasure” he has
brought me.

Let’s Make a Schedule––For some reason, Alex believes that I
know everything (perhaps because of my success at Name That Crumb), so he
thinks I am a human TV Guide who knows when every television show airs.
Recently, he has begun asking me when various sporting events will be on tv and
on what channel. Unlike Name that Crumb, I can’t fake answers because he will
check my accuracy to make sure I tell him the truth. Why he doesn’t just do
this in the first place is beyond me, other than I think he enjoys seeing the
panic on my face when I don’t immediately know what channel the NASCAR race is
on.

To Not Tell the Truth––Although Alex trusts me to tell him
the truth, we play a game in which he doesn’t tell the truth, and he probably
knows that I’m onto his deception. In this game, he comes running to tell me
that he’s going to throw up and needs sugar. This game originated from my
giving him a little bit of sugar when he has hiccups, and he has generalized
the value of this cure to vomiting, too. Knowing how much I hate cleaning up
vomit, he realizes that just saying that he will throw up motivates me to move
quickly to fulfill his “needs.” Being the gullible one I am, I jump up and give
him a little sugar. He wins this round.

Catch Game––Another game Alex plays to get me moving fast is
the Catch Game in which he acts as though he has been searching for days for
some beloved and necessary belonging that he has misplaced. After questioning
him about where he might have left the missing objects and having him convince
me that he has searched the places I have mentioned, I usually find the
“prize” in one of those locations he claims he has already checked. Once I
locate the object and present it to him, we are both winners of this game.

Family Confused––Not all of our games involve running around
the house; some simply involve banter between the two of us. In Family
Confused, I must explain to him that his notions about family members are
incorrect. For example, anytime he hears a woman with a high-pitched voice
speaking, he is convinced that my sister is nearby. “Is that Aunt Tammy?” he
will ask hopefully. We will then explain to him that the person he hears is not
his beloved aunt but someone who just sounds like her. Another area of
confusion for him is figuring out the identities of my dad and my brother,
whose voices sound alike to him. He will repeatedly ask us, “Is Uncle Freddy
Grandpa?” We then have to explain to him that they are two separate people,
just like he and his dad are. Even though we have gone over this with him many
times, he still likes to have this conversation over and over.

To Tell the Temperature––The value of repetition is also
involved in this game in which Alex hears something about the city of Phoenix,
which makes him always remark excitedly, “It gets hot in Phoenix!” We will
agree with his assertion, and then he will ask a question whose answer he
already knows: “How hot does it get in Phoenix?” We will then tell him that it
gets about 100 degrees. Our imprecise answer amuses him because he can then
correct us by saying, “No, between 105 and 110 degrees EXACTLY!”

The 9999 Pyramid––Alex’s precision is a key factor in this
game, as well. He studies anything with numbers but has a special fascination
for odometers on cars and receipts from stores and restaurants. He will peruse
receipts intently, noting the number of digits, and ask us, “What happens after
9999?” We tell him that they would either add a digit and go to 10,000 or start
over at 1. He will mull this over for a while before determining what response
works best.

Meal of Fortune––This game allows Alex to combine two of his
favorite things in the whole world: food and numbers. Before eating a meal, he
assesses the various foods before him and begins asking a series of questions.
“Can you count meat?” “Can you count strawberries?” “Can you count potatoes?”
As we assure him that all of these solid foods are distinct and that he can
count each bite of them, he will then shift his focus. “Can you count
Gatorade?” Can you count salad dressing?” “Can you count ketchup?” As we
explain to him, that those items are not countable because they are liquid, he
can then start eating and counting the solid foods in a game he can continue
independently.

The Pace Is Right––In another game that usually combines
numbers and food, Alex wants to assess how many days a particular item will
last before we need to go to the store and buy more. The object of his concern
is usually a particular favorite of his at the time: Welch’s sparkling grape
juice, dill pickles, black olives, cookies. Currently, he feels the need to
check on his orange Gatorade supply and the number of Italian sausages we have
in the refrigerator. Once he is reassured that we have plenty, he is satisfied
that our inventory is sufficient to meet his needs. In a similar game, he wants
to know how many days of leftovers we have. For most people, leftovers are not
something to celebrate, but for Alex, they mean a few days of tasty lunches,
and he hopes that we have more than one day of leftovers for him to eat. Recently,
Alex has expanded his Pace Is Right to checking on how much toilet paper is
left on the roll in the bathroom. Because toilet paper rolls have gotten
smaller and smaller over the years, Alex is concerned that he may run out at an
inopportune time. My role in this game is to estimate how many days are left on
a t.p. roll before it will need to be changed. Once I have given my final
answer, Alex checks the progress of the roll to make sure I have told him
accurately. Fortunately, I am really good at figuring out how much toilet paper
we use, so he trusts my assessment, making us both winners at this game.

While many of these games Alex and I play stem from his OCD
needs to organize details, I suspect that he also enjoys the conversations we
have about topics he likes, such as numbers and food. Even though going through
the same dialogue over and over could be tedious, I’m pleased that he wants to
share information and that he has the verbal skills to engage in banter. I’m
just hoping I don’t have to explain that whole “spay or neuter your pet” line
with him anytime soon.

“But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you
the truth.” Job 21:29

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Recently several “suggested posts” have been showing up in
my Facebook news feed regarding new treatments for autism. Intrigued by their
enthusiastic sales pitches, I have been checking out these “sponsored”
advertisements and found them to be full of empty promises and false hope.
After more than twenty years of doing autism research, I can recognize
unscrupulous charlatans who prey upon the hopes of autism parents willing to do
anything to help their beloved children. However, I wonder how many parents buy
into these methods, supplements, and treatments in earnest efforts to make
their children better, wasting their time and money and even potentially
endangering their children’s health.

In evaluating the claims of these advertisements for autism
miracle cures, parents should watch for the following red flags warning them to
steer clear of these promoters. First, these new methods usually have some
secrecy surrounding them. Magical supplements have “proprietary blends” of
ingredients that could be worthless or even harmful. In addition, parents
should be wary of vague claims. If, indeed, this treatment works, the
advertiser should proudly tell what it does. Some of these ads attempt to boost
the value by using jargon and vague statements. Perhaps they use loaded
language because those claiming expertise in the field really have none.
Finally, the obvious clue that should make parents skeptical is that these
treatments are ridiculously expensive. In fact, some of them are shamefully
expensive, to the point they hide the cost of the treatment until after they
have made all of their sales pitches. Certainly, parents are willing to spend
any amount of money to make their children with autism better, but these
charlatans prey upon desperate parents in order to make money. To me, that is
criminal.

Because of quackery that exists in the treatment of autism,
some people are quick to dismiss any kinds of alternative therapies that may
benefit some children with autism. For example, I have read articles in the
mainstream media that describe “what doesn’t work” and include among the
so-called worthless interventions special diets and chelation. (These same
types of articles also firmly state that there is absolutely no connection
between autism and vaccinations. I disagree.) Not only are special diets and
chelation deemed unhelpful in these articles, but these treatment methods are also
described as “dangerous” to children with autism.

Of course, parents need to do research and consult with
reputable medical professionals before trying alternative therapies. We were
fortunate to have a medical doctor with extensive knowledge of nutrition who
took a holistic approach to treating Alex. In addition, we did reliable testing
before jumping into uncharted waters, and we only tried one new thing at a time
so that we could discern the positive and negative effects of the therapy. When
Alex was seven years old, we had him tested for food allergies, and after
discovering that he, like many children with autism, had sensitivities to caseins
found in milk products and glutens found in grains, we placed him on a
gluten-free and casein-free diet, which he still maintains today. I believe
that his cooperative adherence to this special diet has prevented him from
having digestive issues that many people with autism suffer.

When Alex was nine years old, we had him take a heavy metals
challenge test, which only required urine samples, and the results showed he
had toxic metals in his system, something fairly common in children with
autism. We knew that keeping arsenic, lead, mercury, and aluminum in his body
was not healthy, and under the direction of his doctor, who had expertise in
chelation therapy, we treated him for three years with a safe protocol to rid
his body of these toxins. Alex’s doctor prescribed DMSA pills containing sulfur
to bind with the toxic metals that removed them from his system. While special
diets and chelation are not appropriate for all children with autism, we
believe that testing indicated these methods were necessary for Alex to improve
his health.

While the GFCF diet and chelation therapy worked for Alex,
some other methods we have tried have not been as successful. For example, some
children with autism benefit from taking fish oil Omega 3 supplements. When we
have tried these supplements with Alex, he has had negative side effects, such
as agitation, hyperactivity, and insomnia. Consequently, we felt these
supplements did not work for him. In addition, we tried giving him vitamin A in
the form of cod liver oil capsules along with the prescription medication
urecholine after hearing that this therapy had been successful with other
children. However, Alex did not show any improvement with this method, and we
discontinued this treatment since he did not respond favorably, as other
children did. Because children with autism have varied nutritional needs, some
respond to certain therapies, while others do not. As Alex’s doctor frequently
reminded us, so long as a treatment is not harmful, it is always worth trying.

When considering therapy methods, parents should also
investigate less expensive and more convenient yet equally effective
alternatives. For example, I researched Fast Forward, a computer-based therapy
designed to improve children’s receptive language skills, which were a weakness
for Alex. However, at the time, no local providers of this therapy existed,
which meant traveling in addition to the great expense of the therapy itself.
After more research, I found Earobics, a similar program that parents could
purchase for home use at a very reasonable price. Believing that Alex could
benefit from this lesser expensive program we could use at home, we tried
Earobics and found this games-based computer program did indeed improve his
receptive language skills.

Similarly, after reading about auditory integration therapy
(AIT) and how it addressed hypersensitive hearing and sensory processing issues
that Alex had, I was unable to find any therapists nearby who offered this
method. In addition, for many parents AIT is cost-prohibitive. More research
led me to the EASe disc, a CD parents can purchase for home use offering many
of the benefits of AIT along with the convenience of doing the therapy in the
comforts of home. For Alex, the EASe disc enabled him to overcome sound sensitivities
that upset him, and now he is rarely bothered by loud noise. Unlike some people
with autism who must wear earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones in public
places to deal with overwhelming sounds, Alex can go to sporting events and
concerts without earplugs or headphones, thankfully unfazed by the noise.

Although we found benefits to some alternative therapies,
others did not work for Alex, and the successful therapies we found may not
work for others. Parents need to do their research to find ways to help their
children without putting them in danger and without spending ridiculous amounts
of money on unproven methods. After reading through yet another Facebook ad
claiming, “Our autism therapy works. Period,” I found the comments people made
in response to this bold statement interesting, questioning the validity of the
treatment. As one person wisely noted, “If there is ever a truly effective
treatment for autism, it will hopefully be shouted from the rooftops and have
folks lining up for it. I don’t think you would have to stumble on it via
Facebook.” I totally agree. In the meantime, parents like me keep searching for
ways to make our children with autism healthier, happier, and more independent.
When I find something that works, I will be shouting it from the rooftops (or
at least sharing it from my blog), hoping to help all of our children with
autism be their best.

“And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many
people.” Matthew 24:11

About Me

Pam Byrne is the mother of an adult son, Alex, who was diagnosed with autism in 1996, at the age of four. Since then, she has researched autism and pursued various therapies to help him reach his full potential. Along with her husband, Ed, she coordinates Alex's support services, including behavioral, recreational, and music therapies and respite care. A graduate of Valparaiso University, she is a retired middle school English teacher. She lives in Valparaiso, Indiana, with her husband and son.